SamH

Loving the Fissidens!

Congratulations! What have I been up to? I've posted some plants, replaced two CO2 bottles, seen the misus and got a shift for this afternoon 8)

Good to see you've got the tape out. Keen to see where this goes :spop:

Really? It was just a quick one. I'll make a better one some other day but I've resorted to using a flat stone slab pad for now. Will be up shortly.

Players! It's the start point in the game where every new player to join appears. You also appear there if you die and respawn. I might leave it as a monument.

Congrats! But you don't have to spend all day looking for the pieces and you can live inside your creations! Just finished building a spawn tower, I forgot you spawn on the top most block :nilly:

Duh! Building the spawn tower in MC edit of course cause I don't have months to do it legit but everything else will be survival.

We'll see if I'm done by then

Agreed! I'm just getting back into it after a self imposed ban during the school year. Building spawn point for my server now 8)

What's wrong with Lego? It's actually quite a creative game.

I didn't get it either. Until I played. Give it a go 8)

Playing Minecraft :smln:

Agreed. Provided you have patience and select the right species of plants.

The second link you posted is defintely achievable with what you have now, all of the tank specs are there so just copy those.

Too deep!

Making CO2 the limiting factor is only going to cause algae issues. With a low light tank such as this, sticking to Excel and low light plants is the cheap option. But if you want a aquarium then you'll need a bit more than extra light.

I've given you all the numbers and can guide you through setting up a sodastream unit but at the end of the day, all I can do is advise. Take it or leave it But the key to a planted tank is balance. Why would anyone upgrade their lights without balancing it with CO2? :-?

Thanks! I think so too. Should be good when the hairgrass fills in, I'll need a school of ottos to keep it clean though :nilly: Next task; master the tank photography :oops:

My Sodastream CO2 system runs 270g bottles which cost $12 to exchange at Mitre10 Mega or Farmers about once every 3-4weeks. Compare that to the Fluval cartridges which contain either 20g of CO2 for $12 each or 88g of CO2 for $35.60 (going by current price at HFF). Now my tank is 100L whereas yours is 23L so you should go through about 75% less CO2 than I do. So here's the numbers for the Fluval system: $200 for the 88g kit which comes with one 88g canister. To replace this canister it'll cost you $35.60. By my calculations, you'll use about 67.5g in the same time I use 270g so you'll be paying $35.60 roughly once a month. And here's the numbers for a soda stream system: $78.94 + shipping for a regulator. $40ish for an adaptor. $20 for the glassware from the same site as regulator. $20 for a bottle off TM or buy one new (unsure of price) from Mitre10 Mega. That's running up $160 with refills costing $12 once every 3 months. Up to you though, the Fluval will be easier to set up initially but the soda stream setup will cost you a lot less to set up and run.

Every tank I've run that received ANY sunlight had algae issues on the glass in the area that the light hit. Planted tanks are best kept in a dark corner.

Generally planted tank enthusiasts try to avoid any sunlight on their tank due to the lack of control they have over intensity and duration. I'm not surprised you're getting algae especially as you're lacking consistent CO2.

How long is the light on the tank for?

I've heard only bad things about those units, they're small, expensive to refill and unreliable. How much are you willing to spend on CO2? The Excel will help, it's a carbon supplement.

Looking good! That sword looks as it did when I first got it, pull or cut off all of clear and dead leaves as you see them and it'll bounce back in no time.

Just make sure you have as much flow as practical once the plants are rooted. No flow = algae.